Post Offices Join List Of Nation's 'Most Endangered Historic Places'

With no clear disposition review process in place, hundreds of these historic civic buildings may be endangered by U.S. Postal Service cost cutting, including this one — the Geneva Post Office in Geneva, Ill.

Joe Frazier's Gym is for sale in Philadelphia. The annual list spotlights architectural, cultural and natural heritage sites at risk of destruction or irreparable damage and raises awareness about the threats.

The Thomas Clark House at Princeton Battlefield Park in Princeton Township, N.J., is shown in Dec. 2001. The battle was fought on the Clark's farm and Gen. George Washington's dearest friend Gen. Hugh Mercer died in the house nine days after being wounded at the battle during the Revolutionary War. This site is currently threatened by a housing development.

Historic structures at the Port of Los Angeles, including Terminal Island, are slated for demolition. The National Trust for Historic Preservation said Wednesday that Terminal Island has been named to its 2012 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

In this photo provided by the U.S. Forest Service, Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch site near Medora, N.D., is seen in Sept. 2007. Billings County officials want to build a crossing over the Little Missouri River and a road to cut commute times for locals. Opponents worry it would be a road heavy with oil traffic and RVs, ruining an area that inspired the conservation-minded president.

This is the house where slain African-American leader Malcolm X spent part of his childhood. It's in the Roxbury section of Boston. An attempt to preserve the frame house as a historic landmark faces an uphill battle.

This photo provided by the Ohio Historical Society shows a view across the spring garden to the Bimeler Museum in Zoar Village, Ohio. The building which was seriously damaged in an earlier flood is undergoing repairs during this summer.

A view of main autopsy theater area at the 1909 mortuary building in Ellis Island hospital in New York City. During the height of immigration to the U.S. from the 1890s to the 1950s millions of immigrants experienced the land of their dreams for the first time in these halls and corridors. The hospital complex has not been restored and remains closed to visitors.

When it announced that nearly 4,400 post offices would be studied to see if they should be closed, the U.S. Postal Service did not "define and implement a clear process that will protect the historic buildings in its inventory," the trust says.

Using the Post Office in Geneva, Ill., as an example, the trust makes the case that it needs to be saved and used as a model "for preserving other historic post office buildings across the country."